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Publishing by the Seas is proud to announce the release of To Die in the USA by local author, UCSB Professor Emeritus, Víctor Fuentes. The public is invited to attend the book’s launch signing, which will take place at Granada Books on March 12th at 5pm.

This unique story, a fictional memoir in the picaresque style, was inspired by the author’s own experiences as a Spanish exile from the Spanish Civil War (1936 – 1939), and as a professor during turbulent times. The novel spans half a century with an eye-witness flavor of historical events including over two-thirds of the Twentieth Century. Satirical, lyrical, and dark, the book chronicles the painful, the hopeful, and the hopeless alike.

To Die in the USA, the first book by Fuentes translated to English, is part of a trilogy that includes Biografía Americana (2008) and Memorias del Segundo Exilio Español (2011).

Fuentes moved to Santa Barbara in the summer of 1965 for a teaching position at UCSB, after completing his PhD in Romance Language and Literatures at New York University. After teaching at Barnard College – Columbia University, he taught Spanish Literature at UCSB from 1965 to 2003, including theater and film. His work has been published in more than 250 outlets. His many books include an award-winning series on director Luis Buñuel, with the most recent, Buñuel, del Surrealismo al Terrorismo, published in 2013.

Fuentes served as co-editor with esteemed professor Luis Leal of the UCSB publication Ventana Abierta(with 34 issues, 1995-2013), sharing Latino literature, arts and culture in Spanish. He’s a member of the North American Academy of Spanish Language.

Fuentes has two other books launching this year, California Hispano-Mexicana: Una Nueva Narracion Histórico-Cultural published by the North American Academy of Spanish Language, and upcoming César Chávez y la Unión: Una Historia Victoriosa de los de abajo in press by Floricanto.

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